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Alabama
1 Helmet, 2 Jerseys, 1 Pants, 2 Combinations The Crimson Tide have the epitome of a classic uniform design. The Tide wore the same two uniforms the entire season, just as they have every year in recent memory (with the exception of some very moderate pro combat uniforms in 2010.) GRADE: A Changes Needed: The only thing the Tide could possibly consider doing differently is to add alternate white helmets on the road for one or two games a season, which they did as recently as the early 1980s. |
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Arkansas
2 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 4 Combinations The Razorbacks had a very similar uniform season to Tennesssee and Georgia, using the same two combinations for most of the season but breaking out one-off alternates. They wore a pretty nice anthracite set in a win over Florida and all Red against LSU, as has become tradition for them. For every other game, they wore either Red-Red-White or Red-White-White. GRADE: A- Changes Needed: Arkansas could stand to mix and match a bit more. They have a solid design right now; no reason to change that. Still, they could have worn Red-White-Red at least once to change things up a bit. They also had a really nice white alternate helmet that was retired after the 2014 season. I'd like to see it make a comeback. |
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Auburn
1 Helmet, 2 Jerseys, 1 Pants, 2 Combinations Like Alabama, Auburn keeps their uni combos the same year-to-year except for template changes. Sleeve stripes make thier uniforms a bit less plain, but traditional nonetheless. GRADE: A Changes Needed: Auburn has a weird striping inconsistency that has existed for forever and will likely never be fixed. I wouldn't mind seeing Auburn change it up once a year or so; orange jerseys or a different facemask color are ideas that Clint Richarson at the Auburn Uniform Database has had. |
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Florida
2 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 9 Combinations Florida is a great example of a team who keeps their uniforms traditional yet isn't afraid to mix and match. In 2016, the Gators wore every combo they possibly could including an orange helmet and either blue or white jersey. In addition to those primary uniform elements, the Gators also wore a white helmet twice and an orange jersey three times. GRADE: A- Changes Needed: All of the Gators' pants, their blue and white jerseys, and orange helmets are perfect. They never ever need to change any of them. The white helmets, however, use stripes inconsistent with the white jerseys and pants. That needs to be fixed. Also, the white helmet has different logos on each side on the helmet, which is generally a sin in uniform design. I almost don't mind in this case, though, as both the F logo and Gators script look good on the white helmet. Ideally, they should pick one and stick with it, but I really can't say which they should choose. I think that a majority would say go with the Gators script, but I really like the F logo, an older version of which Florida has traditionally used on white helmets. The final problem with the Gators' otherwise solid uniform set is the striping on the orange jersey, which should be Blue-White-Blue to match the orange jersey and pants, instead of the Blue-Orange-White-Orange-Blue that it currently is. Also, stop wearing All Orange so much. It's fine once a season, and it's fine to wear the orange jerseys more than once. Just pair them with the white pants and helmets more. |
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Georgia
1 Helmet, 3 Jerseys, 1 Pants, 3 Combinations Georgia wore the same two combinations for the entire season, except for the next to last home game in which they wore black jerseys for the first time since 2008. GRADE: A Changes Needed: Georgia is pretty solid as is. I imagine they'll update to a newer Nike template soon, fixing the huge collar issue. The only other change they need to make is one that was rumored earlier this past season: bring back red pants for some road games. Do that, keep wearing Black once a year, and Georgia is perfect. |
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Kentucky
4 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 8 Combinations Kentucky updated their logos and uniforms this past offseason. While the logo was an obvious upgrade, my first impressions of the uniforms was that they were a slight downgrade from the previous set. The checkerboard pattern remains on the sleeve but is far less subtle; I thought the fact that it was subtle was the best part about it on their previous set. The way the Wildcats used their new set is what sold me on it. They kept it traditional for the most part, wearing some beautiful combos such as B-B-W, W-W-W, W-W-B, W-B-W, and B-W-B. All Blue was a surprising omission in 2016. Even their alternate anthracite uniforms were better than the black they'd donned in the past. B-A-B looked alright, but the C-A-A and C-B-A combos did not work at all. Chrome helmets just don't work for Kentucky. GRADE: C+ Changes Needed: Ditch the chrome helmets. Matte anthracite would look better if you need an alternate like that. Otherwise, don't wear anthracite pants with the blue jerseys again and keep doing what you're doing with the traditional combos. 2016 was the best uniform season for Kentucky since they started expirimenting, but 2017 can be even better. |
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LSU
3 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 3 Combinations LSU wore gold throwbacks in 2016, which were okay but looked better in photoshoots than on the field. They kept the white helmets and pants from 2015 for use with the purple jerseys, which looked good again. Otherwise, they kept with the traditional Gold-White-Gold look. GRADE: A- Changes Needed: 2015 was a better uniform season for LSU than 2016 IMO, simply becuase we got to see more combos. Due to the whole ordeal with their Florida game, the Tigers only wore purple once in 2016, preventing them from wearing both White-Purple-White and Gold-Purple-Gold. Honestly, if their uniforms were the same as 2015 every year, that'd be perfect. White-Purple-White once, Gold-Purple-Gold once, White-White-White once, and Gold-White-Gold 9+ times. |
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Mississippi State
3 Helmets, 4 Jerseys, 5 Pants, 10 Combinations Mississippi State made a ton of improvements in 2016, adding stripes to its maroon and white pants and updating the white jerseys. Alternate unis, however, were subpar. For a more extensive look at Mississippi State's 2016 football uniforms, click here. GRADE: B- Changes Needed: Maroon Jersey needs to be updated, matte helmets need to be brought back, and alternates need to be better. I'd suggest gray alternates as opposed to black. For my 2017 Mississippi State concept, click here. |
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Missouri
6 Helmets, 5 Jerseys, 4 Pants, 10 Combinations If there's an Oregon of the SEC, it's Missouri. At least it was in the first half of 2016, when the Tigers wore 5 different helmets designs in their first five games of the season. Then, oddly, they wore the exact same one for the next 6 before wearing a 6th design for the final game of the season. Missouri was very inconsistent early on, but they started repeating combos frequently later in the season. Certianly a very odd uniform season for the Tigers- and one could argue a poor one. GRADE: C- Changes Needed: Every jersey the Tigers have follows a different design. Their best jerseys are the gold ones. What they need to do is base an entire set on those and go from there. With their helmets, they need to pick two or three designs they like and stick to those. Different helmets every week is too much and the same every week is too boring for a team with their uniforms. They need to find a happy medium, which it seems like they had a few seasons ago. |
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Ole Miss
2 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 2 Pants, 7 Combinations In 2016, Ole Miss only wore navy jerseys once and completely ditched the navy-accented road jerseys. They were a very red-oriented team in 2016, wearing red-based jerseys for 11 of their 12 games. They wore their great powder blue helmets for 2 games in the middle of the season, and navy the rest of the time. GRADE: B Changes Needed: Ole Miss has some severe color inconsistencies, mostly due to tradition. I'd like to see them wear navy more than once a year as well as implement a few more changes. To see my 2017 concept for Ole Miss, click here. |
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South Carolina
3 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 11 Combinations With 11 Combinations, South Carolina took the title of most in the SEC in 2016. They did it with no flashy alternates or crazy designs. Just a simple design using three colors and a helmet, jersey, and pants of each color. Add a healthy dose of mixing and matching, and you have South Carolina's 2016 uniforms. GRADE: A- Changes Needed: The stripe on the white helmet should be changed to garnet-black-garnet, elimating the white space inbetween them to make the white helmet more consistent with the garnet and black helmets. The "C" on the black helmet also needs to be garnet instead of black to be consistent with the white-garnet-white stripe. Wear the garnet helmet more; it's their best one IMO yet it was worn the least. Otherwise, South Carolina looks great. Really impressed with them this season. |
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Tennessee
2 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 4 Combinations Tennessee uniforms look great now that they've switched to Nike. Clean all the way around; they stick to W-O-W and W-W-W except for all Orange and Smokey Gray alts once a year each (Smokey Gray was worn twice a year this year; once in the regular season and again in the Music City Bowl). GRADE: A Changes Needed: Wear White-White-Orange once a season. Otherwise, you're perfect. |
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Texas A&M
3 Helmets, 3 Jerseys, 3 Pants, 7 Combinations I really like the shoulder stripe design A&M has worn since joining the SEC in 2012. This season they tried out some new combos like White-White-Maroon and Maroon-White-White that they hadn't worn yet in the current set. In doing so they managed not to wear their popular all white combo, excpet for with their 1956 throwbacks, which they wore instead of a crazy alternate this season. Overall, a solid uniform season for the Aggies. GRADE: A- Changes Needed: Wear the crazy Adidas alternates as little as possible, as they did this year. Only thing wrong with their uniforms that I can think of it that their jerseys have 2 stripes, pants have 1, and helmets have 0. Generally such an inconsistency is viewed negatively, but it's not a dealbreaker for A&M. Wouldn't mind it if they went with two stripes everywhere though. |
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Vanderbilt
4 Helmets, 4 Jerseys, 4 Pants, 10 Combinations Vanderbilt has a decent if not underwhelming set of consistent Black, White, and Gold jerseys and pants that they like to mix and match. They also have an alternate "Deep Water" set, which they wore once in 2016. They have black and white helmets that match their uniforms and gold helmets that are holdovers from previous sets. GRADE: C Changes Needed: They're headed in the right direction, but need a bit more color consistency and a more pronounced jersey design. For example, the white helmets feature no gold, and the gold helmets are a COMPLETELY different shade of gold than that used on the uniforms. They could use a redesign with a bit more of a consistent eye. Somewhat related, here's a Vanderbilt concept I did back in 2015. I still wouldn't mind seeing something similar. |
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Finally, the Helmet Standings for 2016. A total of 38 different helmet designs were worn by the 14 SEC teams, 1 less than the 39 worn in 2015. This is accounted for by Missouri and Mississippi State wearing one less design than in 2015 and LSU wearing one more.
Missouri wore the most helmet designs at 6; Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia each kept it to a single design in 2016. The winning % of any SEC Helmet worn in more than three games was Alabama's Crimson, with a .933 average at 14-1.
Vanderbilt's Black and Missouri's Primary helmet pull up the rear at .286 (2-5).
Tennessee's Smokey Grays and Vanderbilt's Gold and Deep Water helmets were the only helmets undefeated in multiple games at 2-0 each.
Ole Miss's Powder Blue and Vanderbilt's White were both 0-2, the only helmets to be worn in multiple games without a win.
Click here for related but different graphics from the 2015 Season.
Missouri wore the most helmet designs at 6; Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia each kept it to a single design in 2016. The winning % of any SEC Helmet worn in more than three games was Alabama's Crimson, with a .933 average at 14-1.
Vanderbilt's Black and Missouri's Primary helmet pull up the rear at .286 (2-5).
Tennessee's Smokey Grays and Vanderbilt's Gold and Deep Water helmets were the only helmets undefeated in multiple games at 2-0 each.
Ole Miss's Powder Blue and Vanderbilt's White were both 0-2, the only helmets to be worn in multiple games without a win.
Click here for related but different graphics from the 2015 Season.
